``(c) Findings._Congress finds the following:

``(1) Disability is a natural part of the human experience and in no way diminishes the right of individuals to participate in or contribute to society. Improving educational results for children with disabilities is an essential element of our national policy of ensuring equality of opportunity, full participation, independent living, and economic self-sufficiency for individuals with disabilities.

``(2) Before the date of the enactment of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975 (Public Law 94 09142), the educational needs of millions of children with disabilities were not being fully met because_

``(A) the children did not receive appropriate educational services;

``(B) the children were excluded entirely from the public school system and from being educated with their peers;

``(C) undiagnosed disabilities prevented the children from having a successful educational experience; or

``(D) a lack of adequate resources within the public school system forced families to find services outside the public school system.

``(3) Since the enactment and implementation of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975, this Act has been successful in ensuring children with disabilities and the families of such children access to a free appropriate public education and in improving educational results for children with disabilities.

``(4) However, the implementation of this Act has been impeded by low expectations, and an insufficient focus on applying replicable research on proven methods of teaching and learning for children with disabilities.

``(5) Over 25 years of research and experience has demonstrated that the education of children with disabilities can be made more effective by_

``(A) having high expectations for such children and ensuring their access to the general education curriculum in the regular classroom to the maximum extent possible in order to_

``(i) meet developmental goals and, to the maximum extent possible, the challenging expectations that have been established for all children; and

``(ii) be prepared to lead productive and independent adult lives, to the maximum extent possible;

`(B) strengthening the role and responsibility of parents and ensuring that families of such children have meaningful opportunities to participate in the education of their children at school and at home;

``(C) coordinating this Act with other local, educational service agency, State, and Federal school improvement efforts, including improvement efforts under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 2001, in order to ensure that such children benefit from such efforts and that special education can become a service for such children rather than a place where they are sent;

``(D) providing appropriate special education and related services, and aids and supports in the regular classroom, to such children, whenever appropriate;

``(E) supporting high-quality, intensive preservice preparation professional development for all personnel who work with children with disabilities in order to ensure that such personnel have the skills and knowledge necessary to improve the academic achievement and functional performance of children with disabilities, including the use of scientifically based instructional practices, to the maximum extent possible;

`(F) providing incentives for whole-school approaches, scientifically based early reading programs, positive behavioral interventions and supports, and prereferral intervention to reduce the need to label children as disabled in order to address their learning and behavioral needs;

``(G) focusing resources on teaching and learning while reducing paperwork and requirements that do not assist in improving educational results; and

``(H) supporting the development and use of technology, including assistive technology devices and assistive technology services, to maximize accessibility for children with disabilities.

``(6) While States, local educational agencies, and educational service agencies are primarily responsible for providing an education for all children with disabilities, it is in the national interest that the Federal Government have a supporting role in assisting State and local efforts to educate children with disabilities in order to improve results for such children and to ensure equal protection of the law.

``(7) A more equitable allocation of resources is essential for the Federal Government to meet its responsibility to provide an equal educational opportunity for all individuals.

``(8)(A) The Federal Government must be responsive to the growing needs of an increasingly more diverse society.

``(B) America's ethnic profile is rapidly changing. In the year 2000, 1 of every 3 persons in the United States was a member of a minority group or was limited English proficient.

``(C) Minority children comprise an increasing percentage of public school students.

``(D) With such changing demographics, recruitment efforts for special education personnel should focus on increasing the participation of minorities in the teaching profession.

``(9)(A) The limited English proficient population is the fastest growing in our Nation, and the growth is occurring in many parts of our Nation.

``(B) Studies have documented apparent discrepancies in the levels of referral and placement of limited English proficient children in special education.

``(C) This poses a special challenge for special education in the referral of, assessment of, and services for, our Nation's students from non-English language backgrounds.

``(10)(A) Greater efforts are needed to prevent the intensification of problems connected with mislabeling and high dropout rates among minority children with disabilities.

``(B) More minority children continue to be served in special education than would be expected from the percentage of minority students in the general school population.

``(C) African-American children are over identified as having mental retardation and emotional disturbance at rates greater than their white counterparts.

``(D) In the 1998 091999 school year, African-American children represented just 14.8 percent of the population aged 6 through 21, but comprised 20.2 percent of all children with disabilities.

`(E) Studies have found that schools with predominately Caucasian students and teachers have placed disproportionately high numbers of their minority students into special education.

``(11)(A) As the number of minority students in special education increases, the number of minority teachers and related services personnel produced in colleges and universities continues to decrease.

`(c) FINDINGS- Congress finds the following:

`(1) Disability is a natural part of the human experience and in no way diminishes the right of individuals to participate in or contribute to society. Improving educational results for children with disabilities is an essential element of our national policy of ensuring equality of opportunity, full participation, independent living, and economic self-sufficiency for individuals with disabilities.

`(2) Before the date of the enactment of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975 (Public Law 94-142), the special educational needs of millions of children with disabilities were not being fully met and there were many children with disabilities participating in regular school programs whose undiagnosed disabilities prevented them from having a successful educational experience.

`(3) Since the enactment and implementation of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975, this Act has been successful in ensuring children with disabilities and the families of such children access to a free appropriate public education and in improving educational results for children with disabilities.

`(4) Over 25 years of research and experience has demonstrated that the education of children with disabilities can be made more effective by--

`(A) having high expectations for such children and ensuring their access to the general education curriculum in the regular classroom to the maximum extent possible in order--

`(i) to meet developmental goals and, to the maximum extent possible, the challenging expectations that have been established for all children; and

`(ii) to be prepared to lead productive and independent adult lives, to the maximum extent possible;

`(B) strengthening the role and responsibility of parents and ensuring that families of such children have meaningful opportunities to participate in the education of their children at school and at home;

`(C) coordinating this Act with other local, State, and Federal school improvement efforts, including efforts under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, in order to ensure that children with disabilities benefit from such efforts and that special education can become a service for such children rather than a place where they are sent;

`(D) supporting high-quality, intensive professional development for personnel who work with children with disabilities;

`(E) providing incentives for scientifically based reading programs and prereferral intervention services to reduce the need to label children as disabled in order to address their learning needs;

`(F) focusing resources on teaching and learning while reducing paperwork and requirements that do not assist in improving educational results; and

`(G) supporting the development and use of technology, including assistive technology devices and services, to maximize accessibility for children with disabilities.

`(5) While States, local educational agencies, and educational service agencies are primarily responsible for providing an education for all children with disabilities, it is in the national interest that the Federal Government has a supporting role in assisting State and local efforts to educate children with disabilities in order to improve results for such children and to ensure equal protection of the law.

`(6) A more equitable allocation of resources is essential for the Federal Government to meet its responsibility to provide an equal educational opportunity for all individuals.

`(7)(A) The Federal Government must respond to the growing needs of an increasingly diverse society.

`(B) America's ethnic profile is rapidly changing. In the year 2000, nearly one of every three persons in America was a member of a minority group or was limited English proficient.

`(C) Minority children comprise an increasing percentage of public school students.

`(D) With such changing demographics, recruitment efforts for special education personnel should focus on increasing the participation of minorities in the teaching profession in order to provide appropriate role models with sufficient knowledge to address the special education needs of these students.

`(8)(A) The limited English proficient population is the fastest growing in our Nation, and the growth is occurring in many parts of our Nation.

`(B) Studies have documented apparent discrepancies in the levels of referral and placement of limited English proficient children in special education.

`(C) This poses a special challenge for special education in the referral, assessment, and provision of services for our Nation's students from non-English language backgrounds.

`(9)(A) Greater efforts are needed to prevent the intensification of problems connected with mislabeling and high dropout rates among minority children with disabilities.

`(B) More minority children continue to be served in special education than would be expected from the percentage of minority students in the general school population.

`(C) African American children are overidentified as having mental retardation and emotional disturbance at rates greater than their white counterparts.

`(D) In the 1998-99 school year, African American children represented just 14.8 percent of the population aged 6 through 21, but comprised 20.2 percent of all children with disabilities.

`(E) Studies have found that schools with predominantly Caucasian students and teachers have placed disproportionately high numbers of their minority students into special education.

`(10)(A) As the number of minority students in special education increases, the number of minority teachers and related services personnel produced in colleges and universities continues to decrease.

(c) FINDINGS- The Congress finds the following:

(1) Disability is a natural part of the human experience and in no way diminishes the right of individuals to participate in or contribute to society. Improving educational results for children with disabilities is an essential element of our national policy of ensuring equality of opportunity, full participation, independent living, and economic self-sufficiency for individuals with disabilities.

(2) Before the date of the enactment of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975 (Public Law 94-142) --

(A) the special educational needs of children with disabilities were not being fully met;

(B) more than one-half of the children with disabilities in the United States did not receive appropriate educational services that would enable such children to have full equality of opportunity;

(C) 1,000,000 of the children with disabilities in the United States were excluded entirely from the public school system and did not go through the educational process with their peers;

(D) there were many children with disabilities throughout the United States participating in regular school programs whose disabilities prevented such children from having a successful educational experience because their disabilities were undetected; and

(E) because of the lack of adequate services within the public school system, families were often forced to find services outside the public school system, often at great distance from their residence and at their own expense.

(3) Since the enactment and implementation of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975, this Act has been successful in ensuring children with disabilities and the families of such children access to a free appropriate public education and in improving educational results for children with disabilities.

(4) However, the implementation of this Act has been impeded by low expectations, and an insufficient focus on applying replicable research on proven methods of teaching and learning for children with disabilities.

(5) Over 20 years of research and experience has demonstrated that the education of children with disabilities can be made more effective by --

(A) having high expectations for such children and ensuring their access in the general curriculum to the maximum extent possible;

(B) strengthening the role of parents and ensuring that families of such children have meaningful opportunities to participate in the education of their children at school and at home;

(C) coordinating this Act with other local, educational service agency, State, and Federal school improvement efforts in order to ensure that such children benefit from such efforts and that special education can become a service for such children rather than a place where they are sent;

(D) providing appropriate special education and related services and aids and supports in the regular classroom to such children, whenever appropriate;

(E) supporting high-quality, intensive professional development for all personnel who work with such children in order to ensure that they have the skills and knowledge necessary to enable them --

(i) to meet developmental goals and, to the maximum extent possible, those challenging expectations that have been established for all children; and

(ii) to be prepared to lead productive, independent, adult lives, to the maximum extent possible;

(F) providing incentives for whole-school approaches and pre-referral intervention to reduce the need to label children as disabled in order to address their learning needs; and

(G) focusing resources on teaching and learning while reducing paperwork and requirements that do not assist in improving educational results.

(6) While States, local educational agencies, and educational service agencies are responsible for providing an education for all children with disabilities, it is in the national interest that the Federal Government have a role in assisting State and local efforts to educate children with disabilities in order to improve results for such children and to ensure equal protection of the law.

(7) (A) The Federal Government must be responsive to the growing needs of an increasingly more diverse society. A more equitable allocation of resources is essential for the Federal Government to meet its responsibility to provide an equal educational opportunity for all individuals.

(B) America's racial profile is rapidly changing. Between 1980 and 1990, the rate of increase in the population for white Americans was 6 percent, while the rate of increase for racial and ethnic minorities was much higher: 53 percent for Hispanics, 13.2 percent for African-Americans, and 107.8 percent for Asians.

(C) By the year 2000, this Nation will have 275,000,000 people, nearly one of every three of whom will be either African-American, Hispanic, Asian-American, or American Indian.

(D) Taken together as a group, minority children are comprising an ever larger percentage of public school students. Large-city school populations are overwhelmingly minority, for example: for fall 1993, the figure for Miami was 84 percent; Chicago, 89 percent; Philadelphia, 78 percent; Baltimore, 84 percent; Houston, 88 percent; and Los Angeles, 88 percent.

(E) Recruitment efforts within special education must focus on bringing larger numbers of minorities into the profession in order to provide appropriate practitioner knowledge, role models, and sufficient manpower to address the clearly changing demography of special education.

(F) The limited English proficient population is the fastest growing in our Nation, and the growth is occurring in many parts of our Nation. In the Nation's 2 largest school districts, limited English proficient students make up almost half of all students initially entering school at the kindergarten level. Studies have documented apparent discrepancies in the levels of referral and placement of limited English proficient children in special education. The Department of Education has found that services provided to limited English proficient students often do not respond primarily to the pupil's academic needs. These trends pose special challenges for special education in the referral, assessment, and services for our Nation's students from non-English language backgrounds.

(8) (A) Greater efforts are needed to prevent the intensification of problems connected with mislabeling and high dropout rates among minority children with disabilities.

(B) More minority children continue to be served in special education than would be expected from the percentage of minority students in the general school population.

(C) Poor African-American children are 2.3 times more likely to be identified by their teacher as having mental retardation than their white counterpart.

(D) Although African-Americans represent 16 percent of elementary and secondary enrollments, they constitute 21 percent of total enrollments in special education.

(E) The drop-out rate is 68 percent higher for minorities than for whites.

(F) More than 50 percent of minority students in large cities drop out of school.

(9) (A) The opportunity for full participation in awards for grants and contracts; boards of organizations receiving funds under this Act; and peer review panels; and training of professionals in the area of special education by minority individuals, organizations, and historically black colleges and universities is essential if we are to obtain greater success in the education of minority children with disabilities.

(B) In 1993, of the 915,000 college and university professors, 4.9 percent were African-American and 2.4 percent were Hispanic. Of the 2,940,000 teachers, prekindergarten through high school, 6.8 percent were African-American and 4.1 percent were Hispanic.

(C) Students from minority groups comprise more than 50 percent of K-12 public school enrollment in seven States yet minority enrollment in teacher training programs is less than 15 percent in all but six States.

(D) As the number of African-American and Hispanic students in special education increases, the number of minority teachers and related service personnel produced in our colleges and universities continues to decrease.

(E) Ten years ago, 12 percent of the United States teaching force in public elementary and secondary schools were members of a minority group. Minorities comprised 21 percent of the national population at that time and were clearly underrepresented then among employed teachers. Today, the elementary and secondary teaching force is 13 percent minority, while one-third of the students in public schools are minority children.

(F) As recently as 1991, historically black colleges and universities enrolled 44 percent of the African-American teacher trainees in the Nation. However, in 1993, historically black colleges and universities received only 4 percent of the discretionary funds for special education and related services personnel training under this Act.

(G) While African-American students constitute 28 percent of total enrollment in special education, only 11.2 percent of individuals enrolled in preservice training programs for special education are African-American.

(H) In 1986-87, of the degrees conferred in education at the B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. levels, only 6, 8, and 8 percent, respectively, were awarded to African-American or Hispanic students.